This includes, according to Deputy Minister Sello Seitlholo, the elimination of invasive aquatic weeds, such as water hyacinth, which have become a threat to most of the country’s water resources.

The official made these statements following a two-day monitoring visit last week to the Blesbokspruit wetlands near Springs, Ekurhuleni and Jukskei River in Alexandrea, north of Johannesburg in the central Gauteng province.

The Blesbokspruit wetland, recalls the Ministry in a statement, is a Ramsar site (those included in the list of wetlands of international importance) located along the homonymous river, is one of the main tributaries of the Vaal River in Gauteng.

According to the text, the wetland is heavily infested by hyacinth growth, covering approximately 12 kilometers.

The Ministry contends that despite removal through manual labor and biological control, led by Rhodes University’s Centre for Biological Control (CBC), the plant has spread and multiplied, resulting in the destruction of the wetland’s ecosystem.

Water pollution, the vice minister stressed, is a crisis in the country and should be treated as such.

Sello Seitlholo said this social approach is required to address this problem. “We wish to see communities and stakeholders joining the department to fight the scourge of water pollution and eradication of invasive aquatic weeds”, he indicated

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